“May 16, 2017 – The Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) today announced the finalists of the second annual Star Award, given to authors of published women’s fiction.Six finalists were chosen in two categories, General and Outstanding Debut.The winners of the Star Award will be announced at the WFWA Retreat in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 23, 2017.” In the general category, WWK’s Carla Damron was one of three finalist for her novel, The Stone Necklace. Go to Carladamron.com for more information. Congratulations, Carla!

Congratulations to our writers for the following publications:

Warren Bull's new Lincoln mystery, Abraham Lincoln In Court &Campaign has been released. Look for the Kindle version on February 3.

Shari Randall's"Pets" will be included in Chesapeake Crimes: Fur, Feathers, and Felonies anthology, which will be published in 2018. In the same anthology "Rasputin," KM Rockwood's short story, will also bepublished. Her short story "Goldie" will be published in the Busted anthology, which will be released by Level Best Books on April 25th.

In addition, our prolific KM will have the following shorts published as well: "Sight Unseen" in Fish Out of Water, Guppie (SinC) anthology, just released, and "Making Tracks" in Passport to Murder, Bouchercon anthology, October 2017.

Margaret S. Hamilton'sshort story, "Once a Kappa" was published as a finalist in the Southern Writer's Magazine annual short story contest issue. Mysterical-E published her "Double Crust Corpse" in the Fall 2016 issue. "Baby Killer" will appear in the 2017 solar eclipse anthology Day of the Dark to be published this summer prior to the eclipse in August.

James M. Jackson's4th book in the Seamus McCree series, Doubtful Relations, is now available. His novella "Low Tide at Tybee" appears February 7 as part of Lowcountry Crimes: Four Novellas, which is available for order.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Library or Birdhouse?

At
first glance this small box on a post looks like a birdhouse or a mailbox. But
it’s neither of those; it’s a Little Free Library. If you look through the
glass on the small front door you’ll see books carefully tucked inside.

I
visited a Little Free Library (LFL) located in the Del Ray section of
Alexandria, Virginia. This artistic and vibrant neighborhood has a lot of
pedestrian activity--people walking to the nearby Farmer’s Market or shops and
restaurants--so it’s the perfect location for an LFL. The arts are celebrated
in this area and I’ve heard there is even a tall fence in the community with attached
bulletin boards for children and adults to pin their poetry.

The
Little Free Library movement began when Todd Bol created a wooden container
that looked like

a school house and installed it on his lawn as a tribute to
his mother who was a school teacher and book lover. People in his Hudson, Wisconsin
town became excited about the idea and wanted to build their own and fill them
with books. Subsequently, Little Free Libraries, Ltd. was formed in 2009.

According
to Wikipedia, Little Free Libraries are now in all 50 U.S. states. You might
spot them in front of houses, coffee shops, bus stops and churches. The beauty
of this tiny library is that it can fit almost anywhere. Accessible twenty-four
hours a day, there isn’t a fee or fine for an overdue book.

They
are also present in approximately 40 other countries such as Japan, India and
Qatar. Recently Little Free Libraries partnered with Books for Africa to send
thousands of books and 2,000 Libraries to Africa over the next few years.

How
do you get and maintain your own LFL? Well, you can build one or order a custom
Library from the Little Free Library website. Each is unique, ranging from
simple to elaborate and can be considered “a piece of neighborhood art.” You
can paint it or have it custom painted to look like, for example, an old
schoolhouse, a garden, or jazz club.

Stewards
(volunteer caretakers) are in charge of libraries and decide what type of books
to stock. Some stewards choose a mix of books while others prefer a “carefully
curated collection.” Examples of collections are: children’s books, mysteries,
gardening, cooking, history, cultural books, health and wellness.

If
authors would like to donate a book, the protocol is to leave an autographed
copy in a LFL near you. You can find one by going to: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/ and clicking on
the Little Free Library Map of the World.

What books would you have in your Library?

What kind of things do people in your community do to promote literary
arts?

13 comments:

Kara,what a terrific idea! I think mine would contain mysteries and children's books. Our office has a book repository where people can bring books they want to share with others. I've learned about a number of authors through that resource!

Kara, these are adorable! What a great idea - just magical. I would love to get one and plunk it outside my beach house (someday, when I get a beach house!) and fill it with fun paperbacks.My community is a large county with lots of offerings. They are cutting back funding to the library system, however - shortsighted, in my opinion. I think grassroots projects like the Little Free Libraries show what is truly important to people, and it's good to know how much people still value books.

E.B., I don't know about pilfering but there are scattered incidences of vandalism. They have a fact sheet about how to prevent vandalism--don't locate your LFL near a sports arena--and how to engage the community to keep it safe.

Jim, I couldn't do this either due to homeowner rules but it's a clever idea for someone in the right area. On the map of Libraries I noticed that some LFLs are in front of offices or stores. One was a woodworking store with a Library containing woodworking books.

I bet that idea would be welcome in a college town, Sarah. I can see them filled with books about specific subjects like art history or astronomy. Also, books about how to make healthy food choices could be useful for college students.

Kara, I think this is a wonderful idea. I was telling the owner of a local book store I frequently go to for used books. She was excited when I told her about it and said she'd seen in in a small town she'd visited somewhere on vacation once. I told her about your blog, and now I need to tell her what day you posted this. She'd like to make one and put it up somewhere.

Traffic hurries by too fast in front of my house so it wouldn't make sense to put one out, especially since the snowplow gets my mailbox at least once a year and usually more often than that.